Jun 2019 My London Diary

Algerians Protest for Freedom

Algerian Embassy, London. Sat 29 June 2019

People listen to speeches outside the Algerian Embassy
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Algerians rally at the Algerian Embassy after marching through London.

Yesterday was the 19th week of peaceful demonstrations in Algeria for genuine regime change which have continued despite the resignation of President Bouteflika on April 2. Elections for a successor have been postponed. Several protesters held flags of the marginalised Berber community which are banned at protests in Algeria.

I had missed the march, and I think quite a few protesters had left by the time I arrived at the embassy.
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Forest Gayte Pride celebrates Stonewall 50

Forest Gate, London. Sat 29 June 2019

Pride marchers cross a rainbow-coloured crossing in Forest Gate
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Forest Gayte Pride Community in East London celebrate 50 years since the Stonewall riots marked the beginning of the modern LGBT+ movement with a parade of supporters of freedom, openness and queer culture in Forest Gate.

This was the third annual Forest Gayte Pride and ended in Woodgrange Pride Marketplace where Newham Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz, who had taken part in the march, spoke. The march was just one event in the festival.
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Remember Cecil the magnificent lion

Trafalgar Square, London. Sat 29 June 2019
Campaigners met in Trafalgar Square to remember Cecil
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Protesters meet for a vigil 4 years after the shooting in Zimbabwe of Cecil the lion by an American trophy hunter using a crossbow.

Cecil was only wounded by the hunter and was only killed by trackers the following day after 11 hours of cruel suffering. Cecil was a well known and studied lion, followed by researchers for many years after being fitted with a satellite tracking collar and a tourist attraction. His killing highlighted the criminal cruelty of illegal trophy hunting which continues in the area.

I had to leave before the group posed for pictures with one of the Trafalgar Square lions, though these were in any case behind fencing for an event taking place in the square.
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Global March For Whales

Cavendish Square, London. Sat 29 June 2019

Campaigners hold an inflated whale before the march
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Campaigners met in Cavendish Square for speeched before a march to the Japanese Embassy.

They were protesting against the Japanese decision to begin commercial whaling again, and called for a complete end to this cruel practice. The event was led by Dominic Dyer of Born Free and organised by the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation.
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No Justice for Grenfell

Kensington & Chelsea Town Hall, London. Wed 26 Jun 2019

Protesters on the steps of Kensington & Chelsea Town Hall
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The RCG hold protest outside Kensington & Chelsea council because after 2 years there is still no justice for bereaved families and the local community in the dangerously polluted shadow of the Grenfell Tower and dangerous cladding remains in use around the country.

Simon Elmer of Architects for Social Housing, who produced a comprehensive report weeks after the fire, was the main speaker and pointed out that criminal charges after a similar fire in Japan had been brought a month later, but it seems very unlikely any ever be made against the long list of those responsible for the 72 deaths at Grenfell Tower.

Also at the Town Hall in a separate protest over Grenfell were another left group, who were invited to speak by the RCG but declined the offer.
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Don't Attack Iran

Downing St, London. Wed 26 Jun 2019
The protest was called at short notice and numbers were rather low
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Protesters at Downing St called on the government to rule out going to war with Iran, even if President Trump is persuaded by his reckless hard-line advisers.

They say a war would have even more disastrous consequences than the 2003 invasion of Iraq. A delegation attempted to take a letter to Downing St including Kensington MP Emma Dent Coad but were all refused entry, including MP Emma Dent Coad who showed her parliamentary pass. She spoke to the rally and was followed by CND Vice-Chair Carol Turner and others.
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Viva! protest Coca-Cola Dairy Farm

London Eye, London. Wed 26 Jun 2019
Some protesters wore cow costumes and they came with a very small cow
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Viva! hold a protest close to the Coca-Cola London Eye following the release of shocking undercover film of Coca-Cola’s dairy company, Fairlife.

They say the dairy industry rips calves from their mothers, killing the males almost immediately and kills dairy cows once they are considered ‘spent’ by the industry. The protesters showed films of the abuse in this and other dairy farms including Arla and Cadbury and held up large photographs, with some protesters wearing 'cow' suits.
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End torture in Balochistan

Parliament Square, London. Wed 26 Jun 2019
A protesters holds a picture of a medical officer abducted by Pakistani forces in 2009
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On the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the Free Balochistan Movement #UK Chapter protest in Parliament Square.

The called for an end to the large-scale disappearances, arrests and torture of anyone suspected of having links to the Baloch nationalist movement by Pakistan military forces and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
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Operation Shutdown against Knife Crime

Parliament Square, London. Wed 26 Jun 2019

People hold up hands red with fake blood outside Parliament
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Knife crime campaigners Operation Shutdown, a consortium of mums, dad's and bereaved family members and loved ones supported by other campaigners protest outside Parliament.

They called for the community to unite to work to end violence and demanded a meeting of the emergency response committee COBRA to start urgent action by the government. At the protest outside Parliament they poured fake blood on their hands and made hand prints on the pavement.
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Condoms Cut Carbon

Westminster, London. Wed 26 Jun 2019
Population Matters march to Parliament, some in giant condoms
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Campaigners from Population Matters march to Parliament and the Time Is Now mass lobby with some wearing giant condoms.

They say 'Don't Screw With The Planet' and that it's no use cutting carbon footprints if we keep increasing the number of feet. If we can reach a stable world that humans can live on, we will need to stop the population increasing.

But although contraception has a place, the most important way to stop rapid population growth is to cut inequality, making people in the global south richer and cutting the excessive wealth and consumption of those in the richer countries. People will only use contraception if they want to regulate their family size.
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SODEM Steve's 50th Birthday

Old Palace Yard, London. Wed 26 Jun 2019

Steven Bray shouts on his giant megaphone
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The daily anti-Brexit protest by SODEM outside Parliament was larger than usual as people turned up to celebrate SODEM's founder Steven Bray's 50th birthday.
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Time Is Now Walk of Witness

London. Wed 26 Jun 2019
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams speaks at the start of the walk of witness
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People take part in a walk of witness to the care of all our faiths for creation as part of the Time Is Now mass lobby for climate, nature and people. They marched from Trafalgar Square to Church House before going to lobby MPs in Parliament, calling for for urgent new laws to end the UK contribution to climate change, and to build a better world for nature and people. Among those leading the walk was former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams as well as Jewish and Muslim faith leaders
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Against Hindu Fascism in India

Indian High Commission, London. Fri 21 June 2019

Protesters posed wearing Modi masks and with blood-red hands
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The South Asia Solidarity Group protest outside the Indian High Commission following the sweeping victory election victory of Narendra Modi and the extremist BJP party on a platform of hate speech, Islamophobia and warmongering.

They say the election has been followed by a horrific heightening of Hindutva violence with attacks on Muslims and Dalits all over the country, along with the targeting of journalists who are suspected of making the slightest criticism of the regime or of BJP leaders.
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Earls Court - Boris's Biggest Blunder?

Earls Court, London. Fri 21 June 2019

Boris's legacy - a desolate wasteland which blows dust into homes around
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I published a post about my visit to Earls Court on >Re:PHOTO with a handful of pictures - you can see far more here - here's what I wrote:.

Boris Johnson’s time as Mayor was in many ways a disaster for London, but while the media obsess about his sexual peccadilloes and to a lesser extent his racist comments, little is said about his more important failures, which may have enriched some of his city friends but whose consequences will remain to impoverish Londoners for many years after he has left office. One of these, and probably the biggest, is the stalled £12 billion Earls Court redevelopment, which makes even the £53 million Garden Bridge Fiasco fade into insignificance.

The vacant site where one of London’s iconic 1930s building once stood
It’s wrong of course to call it a blunder. It was a deliberate scheme for the enrichment of a few, undoubtedly including friends and financial supporters of the Conservative Party at the expense of London and Londoners, aiming to provide a huge high-rise development of investment properties largely for sale to foreign investors, a huge empty triangle in what was once a thriving part of London, contributing greatly to the local area and more widely, housing several thousand people who would lose their homes and removing jobs from the area.

Along with Boris, and Transport for London, then a part of his fiefdom, the villains in this £12 billion scheme are developers CAPCO, (Capital & Counties Properties) whose development proposals bear no relation to the considerable history, needs of the area and its locality and the contribution it would pay to the local economy, simply wiping the whole area clean and imposing a solution based on maximising profit to the developers. As soon as they acquired the site in 2008 they applied to English Heritage for a Certificate of Immunity from Listing for the 1930s Earls Court Exhibition Centre, granted despite its iconic status – and the fact that some aspects of it were apparently already listed.

The site falls into two London Boroughs, Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham, both when the project began under Conservative control. Hammersmith and Fulham council agreed to sell off the two council estates which cover a large part of the area to Capco in 2012. Since Labour took over in H & F in 2014 they have set up an inquiry into the decision to sell and have called for Capco to return the two housing estates. In February 2019 the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, stated that he wanted the two estates to be transferred back to the council by Capco unconditionally after they demanded unacceptable planning permission in return for their release.

There are two large office blocks on the site, both visible in the top picture. The tower at left has already been sold and is now occupied by the Metropolitan Police. The smaller block, at right, belongs to TfL and is a part of their site which also includes extensive workshops; it seems that they have so far failed to find suitable alternative sites for these essential facilities.

Thanks to determined opposition from local people the scheme has so far failed to materialise, and the West Kensington and Gibbs Green estates are still there, along with the TfL workshops, but the demolition of the two exhibition centres has created the largest desert in London. The cleared area, left as dusty bare cleared rubble is a local eyesore and pollution source, with wind carrying dust into local homes and businesses, creating thick and possibly dangerous grime.

West Kensington, a well built and much loved estate that Capco would demolish
Opposition to the demolition of the exhibition centres is led by the Earl’s Court Area Action Group, one of whose members took me and other journalists on a tour of the area last week. They now demand the demolished area be developed with a replacement venue for the demolished iconic Earls Court Exhibition Centre as a large green space for exhibitions, sports and cultural events, along with “low rise, high density, exemplary green housing with a wide range of housing options including social housing, green space, community and social infrastructure, reflecting the demographic and unique characteristics of Earl’s Court.”

The residents of West Ken & Gibbs Green estates have been campaigning against the demolition of their homes since 2009, and as a part of their campaign for ‘The People’s Estates’ commissioned Architects for Social Housing (ASH) who in 2016 produced ‘the People’s Plan’ for improvements and new homes on the estates without demolition. They want the estates to be transferred to community ownership, but their application has just been turned down by the housing minister, almost certainly for party political reasons. Their best hope is for Labour to come to power.
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Students Friday Climate Strike

Westminster, London. Fri 21 June 2019
A crowded group of students on Westminster Bridge
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Students marched in London again over the climate crisis, blocking Westminster Bridge. They are inspired by Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg.

They ask again where the government is, as it fritters away its time over Brexit and internal party squabbles while failing to take the urgent action needed to give life on this planet a future.

Police attempted to clear the roadway, but had little success as students simply moved around.
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Against Farage and Turning Point UK

Institute of Chartered Engineers, London. 20th June 2019

Protesters look at the Institute of Chartered Engineers from the opposite side of the road
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Stand Up To Racism protest opposite the Institute of Chartered Engineers where Nigel Farage was speaking at a fundraising dinner for Turning Point UK.

This is British offshoot of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) and Farage was appearing with Charlie Kirk founder of TPUSA an organisation which has many links with US far right anti-Islam and anti-Semitic and white supremacist organisations. TPUSA has targeted US academics it alleges discriminate against conservative students and advance left-wing propaganda. Among those who spoke was Louise Raw, who stressed the need to stand up to fascists.
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Extinction Rebellion Dinner of HOPE

Natural History Museum, London. 20th June 2019 Elsie Luna opens the party with a mad angel behind her
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Extinction Rebellion hold a party outside the Natural History Museum which was hosting the annual dinner of the Petroleum Group of the Geological Society, celebrating their exploration of fossil fuels.

The party, opened by 10-year-old Elsie Luna who had tried to get the museum to cancel the event, called on the museum to take positive action over the climate and ecological emergency rather than hosting those who are most responsible for creating global extinction. It was joined by protesters against BP's exploitation of Senegal.
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City and Temple of Mithras

City of London. Thu 20 Jun 2019
A partial reconstruction of the Temple of Mithras below a modern office block
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An outing with a few other photographers took us from Bank to the re-created Temple of Mithras, in Bloomberg's Walbrook Square European HQ and then on through some of the alleys of the city to Leadenhall Market.

The Roman temple was discovered when foundations were being made for Bucklersbury House on a site beside Walbrook, a street above the river of the same name this stretch of which was was covered and culverted in 1440, and remains as a sewer. It was thought to have been built around AD 250 and dedicated at first to Mithras and later to other Roman Gods including Bacchus. It was excavated and the various artifacts found are in the Museum of London, and the temple ruins were rebuilt in front of the office building in Queen Victoria St, open freely to the public from 1962.

The reconstruction was criticised as being inaccurate and for the materials used, and Bloomberg have tried to do a rather better job, relocating the ruins back close to the original site around 23 feet below modern street level and trying to recreate both the original layout as far as possible with the original stones and similar materials to those used by the Romans. Using powerful directional lighting they also create an illusion of the missing pillars of the original and with a suitable sound-track the effect is impressive. The downside is that you now have to book in advance to visit the 'Mithraeum' and places, although free, are limited.

At the Cannon St end of the development is a triangle with water flowing over a surface that perhaps resembles tangled roots, which I photographed on an earlier occasion. It recalls the Walbrook, flowing in its conduit roughly 25 feet below, but the water from that stream is apparently far too polluted to have been used in this gesture to its presence.
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Release Algerian trade unionist Louisa Hanoune

Algerian Embassy, London. Thu 20 Jun 2019
The UCU had brought their banner to the protest
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Trade unionists protest outside the Algerian Embassy calling for the release of Louisa Hanoune, General Secretary of the Workers Party of Algeria and Coordinator of the International Liaison Committee of workers and people (ILC) who was jailed in the military prison of Blida on May 9th.

Today was an international day of action in 71 countries calling for her release, which has been supported in the UK by activists from the Labour Party, Momentum, the Communist Party of Britain, the Socialist Party (England And Wales), UCU, BFAWU, NEU, the Bakers' union (BFAWU) and the IWGB.
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Hands off Sudan march

London. Sat 15 Jun 2019
The protest stopped a couple of times at Hyde Park Corner for some loud chanting
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A large crowd, mainly Sudanese with a few left-wing supporters, marched from the UAE Embassy in London protesting the massacre of 124 peaceful protesters by Janjaweed militias (Rapid Support Forces) in Khartoum and other cities.

The protests began in December and appeared to be causing a peaceful transition to democracy, removing corrupt president al-Bashir, until the heads of the ruling military council visited Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt, all thought to oppose a democratic Sudan.

I had been expecting them to have reached the Egyptian embassy by the time I was able to join them, but there were only a handful of people there waiting for them, so I walked back on the route I thought they would be taking and met them as they approached Hyde Park Corner. They stopped for a while there and then moved on up Park Lane and I went with them a short distance taking pictures, leaving them as they marched on to protest at the Egyptian and Saudi embassies.
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Free Avery & Dassey

Parliament Square, London. Sat 15 Jun 2019

Protesters call for the two men convicted of a murder they did not commit to be freed

Brendan Dassey and his uncle, Steven Avery were both convicted of having murdered photographer Teresa Halbach on October 31, 2005.

The Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer (2015) showed them to be innocent, convicted largely on account of a videotaped interrogation and confession by Dassey, which he recanted at the trial. The widely viewed documentary has led to annual peaceful rallies across the world calling for the two men to be released. The event in London appeared to only be attended by a handful of supporters, and I took very few pictures - only one of which is shown on this site.

'We are the Love' for Idlib

Parliament Square, London. Sat 15 Jun 2019
Posters spell out #We Are The Love and bagpipes and a drummer play
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Letters spell out '#We Are The Love' in the non partisan international campaign inspired by the Black Eyed Peas song Where’s the love? to raise awareness about the massacre currently unfolding in the province of Idlib in Syria.

The protest in Parliament Square was one of many similar protests in cities around the world calling for an end to the violence in Idlib, the opening up a the supply of humanitarian aid to the people of the city and for those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity to be brought to justice.
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Grenfell Solidarity March

Westminster, London. Sat 15 Jun 2019
Marchers listen to a speech at the Home Office/Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
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On the day after the second anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire in which 72 people died, Justice For Grenfell organised a solidarity march, starting and finishing at Downing St.

There were speeches before the march and when it stopped briefly outside the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government offices in the Home Office building before returning for a further rally at Downing St. As well as Justice4Grenfell, the event was supported by housing and building safety campaigners and by branches of the Fire Brigades Union from around the UK. I left before the final rally at Downing St.
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Staines, Heathrow, Bedfont

Middlesex. Sat 15 Jun 2019

Staines Fire Station - cuts mean two local fire stations replaced by one in Ashford
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Engineering work on the railway meant my fastest route to London was to catch a bus to Hatton Cross Underground station.

The 203 I travelled on was a double-decker and for once had fairly clean windows so I took a few pictures on the way. Its a slow journey through Stanwell around the southern edge of Heathrow airport and then though Bedfont, and my journey time to London was more than doubled, but at least as fast and usually more reliable than using the rail replacement bus, particularly as the train company doesn't hold the connection if the bus held up for a few minutes in traffic.
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Grenfell Silent Walk - 2 Years on

North Kensington, London. Fri 14 June 2019
A woman holds a large Grenfell heart with the message 'Just Us' for an abandoned community
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Thousands walked in silence from close to Grenfell Tower remembering the victims of the disaster on the second anniversary of the disastrous fire which killed 72 and left survivors traumatised.

Promises made by Theresa May and Kensington & Chelsea council have not been kept and the enquiry seems to be simply providing an excuse for inaction. There have been no arrests, no prosecutions, no improved building regulations and few buildings have had unsafe cladding removed.

The community feels failed and abandoned by the authorities and angry that Grenfell victim Reis Morris in jail for the anniversary after an angry exchange with a fire chief over the flammable plastic cladding on the building in which the traumatised campaigner who lost a relative in the fire put his hands around the fire chief's neck. A large slogan on the bridge over Ladbroke Grove stated "In The Face Of Injustice Anger Is Justified - #IamReis Morris - #JusticeforGrenfell".
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Rally to end Live Animal Transport

Hyde Park, London. Fri 14 Jun 2019

Campaigners pose covering half their faces with the face of a cow
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Compassion in World Farming held a rally in Hyde Park against the long-distance transport of live farmed animals.

The protest was supported by Animal Equality UK, Animal Welfare Party, Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation, Vets Against Live Export, The Humane League UK and others. Among the speakers were former MEP John Flack, Theresa Villiers MP and actor Peter Egan, a patron of Compassion in World Farming.
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Never Forget Never Forgive SOAS

SOAS, University of London. Wed 12 Jun 2019

SOAS Staff, students and supporters hold up the names of the deported cleaners
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10 years after SOAS London University shockingly colluded with outsourcing company ISS and the UK Border Agency by arranging an early morning 'meeting' for cleaners to be held, interrogated, and nine deported, people met on the SOAS steps to remember and condemn the action and hold posters with the names of the deported.

Cleaners, teaching staff, students and supporters spoke about the event and the continuing fight to get SOAS to live up to the ideals it espouses.
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London World Naked Bike Ride

South Bank, London. Sat 8 June 2019
The only recumbent I saw in the ride.
These pictures involve nudity. Please do not click on the link if you may be offended or if you are in a place where others may be offended.
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Around a thousand people in various states of undress, some with face or body paint or slogans on their bodies cycled around London as a part of the World Naked Bike Ride.

I met them shortly after they had met up just to the south of Westminster Bridge after having started from a handful of different starting points several miles away around London, and photographed as they set off to cycle past St Paul's Cathedral and then to Buckingham Palace before finishing the ride at Hyde Park Corner. Unfortunately I hadn't brought my bike and so couldn't follow them.

The World Naked Bike Ride is a global protest movement with rides in cities around the world, raising awareness of issues such as safety of cyclists on the road, reducing oil dependence and saving the planet. They say "Let's make the planet great again!" As the last rider left I went to the pub.

I've never been too impressed by the protest side of this. It's more a fun ride for people who want to ride around London with no or very few clothes on. For those of us watching on the streets it is certainly unusual and entertaining, and I think very few could be seriously upset by it. The normal response seems to be a lot of pointing and laughing.

Perhaps if it were more of a protest there would be more women taking part. THis year the imbalance seemed even greater than previously, with perhaps 10 or 20 men for every one woman, though I didn't try to make an accurate count. My pictures do tend to concentrate more on the women than the men for various reasons. To state the obvious, these pictures involve nudity. Please do not click on the link if you may be offended or if you are in a place where others may be offended.
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Close all Slaughterhouses

London. Sat 8 Jun 2019
The march goes up Charing Cross Road towards Oxford St
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Vegans march in London calling for an end to the breeding, fishing and slaughter of animals.

Vegans met in Leicester Square and after a speech by a vegan activist who reminded them of the great increase in support for veganism marched through the West End shouting for an end to the killing of animals who they say have feel pain and love their young and want to live "just like us" and handing out leaflets to people on the busy shopping streets.

I have a problem with "just like us" as other animals are clearly not just like us, though they share, some more than others, many of our characteristics. But the human species is very clearly different in some respects. Of course I'm against cruel farming practices, and much is wrong in various ways about some modern farming, but keeping animals and killing them for food or milking them can be done in a decent and humane way and one that has an important contribution to our environment.

They stopped in Soho Square for more speeches, including by Vanessa Hudson from The Animal Welfare Party, before continuing to march around the West End shopping streets.
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Sodem 'Stop Brexit' Protests continue

Parliament Square, London. Thu 6 Jun 2019

Steven Bray stands next to the fence and points his giant megaphone towards Parliament
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Steve Bray and others from SODEM (Stand of Defiance European Movement) continue their daily protests while Parliament is in session demanding Britain remain in the European Union.

As well as protesting in their usual position in Old Palace Yard, a small group came to protest at the gates of the House of Commons, with Steve shouting through a giant megaphone for Brexit to be stopped. One Brexiteer holding a flag with 'Parachute Regiment - I stand with Soldier F' came up and briefly shouted insults at Bray, and several groups of tourists showed their support for SODEM.
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Parliament Debates Grenfell 2 Years On

Parliament Square, London. Thu 6 Jun 2019
Protesters included Moyra Samuels and Eileen Short
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Eight days before the second anniversary of the disastrous fire, a small group of activists stood at Parliament while others inside listened as MP Emma Dent Coad asked questions about Grenfell.

Promises made by Theresa May and Kensington & Chelsea council to the survivors have not been kept and no arrests have been made over the corruption, criminal negligence and disregard for safety that led to 72 deaths. The protesters called for urgent Government action to rehouse all survivors, clear toxic waste, make all similar blocks safe and ensure justice which seems increasingly unlikely.
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Thousands protest against Trump

Westminster, London. Tue 4 June 2019

A protester dressed as the Statue of Liberty holds up a poster 'No Iran War' in Trafalgar Square
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Thousands met in Trafalgar Square to send a clear message that President Trump is not welcome here because of his climate denial, racism, Islamophobia, misogyny and bigotry.

Trump's policies of hate and division have energised the far right around the world. People marched from Trafalgar Square to a rally in Whitehall, close to where he was meeting Theresa May with speeches from Jeremy Corbyn, Caroline Lucas, Frances O'Grady and other leading politicians and activists sending a clear message that President Trump is not welcome here because of his climate denial, racism, Islamophobia, misogyny and bigotry. Corbyn's speech was impressive, and he seemed more robust than ever, and the rumours about his health spread a few weeks later by the right-wing press seem totally ridiculous.

Trump's policies of hate and division have energised the far right around the world. After the rally in Whitehall people then marched to a further rally in Parliament Square.
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Osterley Park

Osterley, Middlesex. Mon 3 Jun 2019

Osterley House is a rather grand building set in a large park and is National Trust property
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On one of our family walks we visited Osterley Park and had lunch in the cafe there. We only had time to look around a small part of the gardens and didn't go in the house.

It is many years since I last visited Osterley Park, though I grew up not far away and when at secondary school used to run on long cross-country runs through its grounds (though later we learnt to disappear in a small park close to school and wait there until it was time to join the returning runners.) As kids too we would come in the Autumn and pick up the sweet chestnuts from its long drive. You can still wander around parts of the estate without paying the NT entry fee, and I think there are several footpaths through parts of the remarkably large grounds.

The first house here was built around 1570 for the wealthy banker Sir Thomas Gresham, the founder of the Royal Exchange in London and who Gresham Street in the City was named after (as well as Gresham's Law - 'Bad Money drives out Good' though this only acquired its title and concise formulation almost 300 years after his death.)

Two hundred years later the estate passed into the hands of the founder of Child's Bank when payments on a mortgage could not be made. His grandsons decided it was too old-fashioned and employed Robert Adam to convert it into a more modern style, and building began in 1761. The stables from the older building remain and now house a secondhand bookshop, cafe and a shop.

Three of us went through the gate to look at the gardens, but we didn't have time to go in the house. Since it is free to Art Fund members I might cycle over one day to do so. Since this is a National Trust property none of the pictures I took are available for commercial or editorial use.
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Zionists protest against Al Quds

London. Sun 2 Jun 2019

Protesters with Israeli Defence Force and Israel flags briefly bring the march to a halt
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Several Zionist groups came to protest against the AL Quds day march and against the Palestinian cause.

Some, including Tommy Robinson's personal bodyguard Danny Thomas, came to where the march was starting at the Home Office, and a couple of groups stood and shouted insults at the marchers, with police keeping the two groups apart. The Al Quds Day marchers largely followed the advice of the march leader and ignored the counter-protest.

When the march started the Zionists attempted to stop it by standing in front of it, many of them waving Israeli flags. After a brief stoppage police began to move them on, pushing them down the street and eventually opening up a large gap between them and the marchers.

The ‘official’ Zionist demonstration was a static one in Whitehall close to the area police had surrounded with barriers for the Al Quds rally. It was organised by the Board of Deputies and the Zionist Federation and supported by the far-Right Sussex Friends of Israel and the Israel Advocacy Movement, some of whose members have previously demonstrated with the EDL.
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Al Quds Day march

London. Sun 2 Jun 2019
Ultra-orthodox anti-Zionist Jews of Neturei Karta call for the dismantling of the Israeli state
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The annual Al Quds Day demonstration in support of the oppressed people of Palestine met at the Home Office and eventually set off for a rally at Downing St.

The event, begun in Iran in 1979 was said by Imam Khomeini not to be only about Jerusalem, but "a day for the oppressed to rise and stand up against the arrogant".

Among the marchers were many Palestinians. Near the front were a group of Imams and the ultra-orthodox anti-Zionist Jews, Neturei Karta (Guardians of the City.)

As usual there were protests against the event by Zionist and right wing groups who tried to block the march but were forced to keep moving slowly in front of it by police.
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Cleaners in Hilton Doubletree Hotel

Marble Arch, London. Sat 1 Jun 2019
A police officer talks to Petros Elia who continues to explain why the cleaners are protesting here
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After celebrating their victory at Chanel, the United Voices of the World union march to the Hilton Doubletrees Hotel, where a member is owned hundreds of pounds after being paid illegally at well below the minimum wage.

The walked into the foyer and demanded to see the hotel manager and the manager of the contract cleaning firm. UVW member Dalia (centre) is owed several thousand pounds after working there for 6 months and being paid illegally at well below the minimum wage. They spoke making their claim and then danced to loud music in the foyer demanding to see the hotel manager and the manager of the contract cleaning firm. Police came and tried to get union and management to talk.
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UVW celebrate LLW at Chanel

Cavendish Square, London. Sat 1 Jun 2019

Cleaners and supporters were delighted to hear Chanel were to pay their cleaners the London Living Wage
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The United Voices of the World union called off a planned protest against Chanel after the company agreed its cleaners would get the London Living Wage.

As well as the protest, the cleaners at Chanel had held a strike ballot, and were planning to strike. This was another successful campaign for the UVW, and was celebrated with some chanting and dancing in Cavendish Square as they waited for others to arrive and take further actions against other workplaces in the West End. Other trade unionists, including a group from the IWGB had come along to show solidarity and support the UVW.
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Canal Panoramas

Haggerston, London. Sat 1 Jun 2019

People watch a swan family from the busy canal towpath
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I'd come to photograph a protest in Dalston, but it didn't seem to be happening and I got fed up with waiting. So I walked down the the Regent's Canal and made a few panoramic photographs as well as sitting on a seat to eat my lunch.

It was a warm day and there were a lot of people enjoying a walk beside the canal either on their own like me or in small groups. There were also many cyclists, most riding sensibly but just the occasional rider going rather too fast for the safety of walkers on the path. The bridge takes the Overground across the canal and there is a station a short distance to the north where I caught a train to Highbury & Islington.
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London Images

June 2019
Two women in the Underground
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This months pictures, taken as I travelled around include images from Vauxhall, Pimnlico, Westminster, St James's Park and of the memorial to May Seacole and a few pictues of a woman with some fine decoration I was behind on an escalator.
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my london diary

London and London events, from 1999 to now.

my london diary index

June 2019

Algerians Protest for Freedom

Algerian Embassy, London. Sat 29 June 2019 People listen to speeches outside the Algerian Embassy more pictures

Forest Gayte Pride celebrates Stonewall 50

Forest Gate, London. Sat 29 June 2019 Pride marchers cross a rainbow-coloured crossing in Forest Gate more pictures

Remember Cecil the magnificent lion

Trafalgar Square, London. Sat 29 June 2019 Campaigners met in Trafalgar Square to remember Cecil more pictures

Global March For Whales

Cavendish Square, London. Sat 29 June 2019 Campaigners hold an inflated whale before the march more pictures

No Justice for Grenfell

Kensington & Chelsea Town Hall, London. Wed 26 Jun 2019 Protesters on the steps of Kensington & Chelsea Town Hall more pictures